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However, experts warn that does not mean it is safe and void of cancer risk.

The new study by Moon-shong Tang, of the environmental medicine department, was an investigation into the belief that other products in tobacco - not nicotine - are the ones that cause cancer and other health woes.

They subjected mice and human cells to the vapor.

They concluded that although vaping delivers fewer carcinogens than tobacco smoke, e-cigarette smokers might have a higher risk than nonsmokers of developing lung and bladder cancers and heart diseases.

Last week the FDA voted unanimously against Philip Morris International's claims that its e-cigarette could predict lower rates of diseases and death in humans.

The penlike device heats Marlboro-branded sticks of tobacco but stops short of burning them.

It is already sold in more than 30 countries and Philip Morris aims to make it the first 'reduced risk' tobacco product ever sanctioned by the US.

FDA clearance would mark a major milestone in efforts by both the industry and government officials to provide alternative tobacco products to US smokers.

The adult smoking rate has fallen to an all-time low of 15 percent, though smoking remains the nation's leading preventable cause of illness and death.